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expliquer: Conjugation

The expliquer conjugation tables below show how to form the French verb expliquer according to tense and person. To listen to the pronunciation of a given tense of expliquer, click on the loudspeaker icon at the bottom of the table. See the notes on the conjugation of expliquer at the end of this page.

Present	Perfect
j' explique tu expliques il/elle explique nous expliquons vous expliquez ils/elles expliquent Pronounce these verb forms	j' ai expliqué tu as expliqué il/elle a expliqué nous avons expliqué vous avez expliqué ils/elles ont expliqué Pronounce these verb forms
Imperfect	Pluperfect
j' expliquais tu expliquais il/elle expliquait nous expliquions vous expliquiez ils/elles expliquaient Pronounce these verb forms	j' avais expliqué tu avais expliqué il/elle avait expliqué nous avions expliqué vous aviez expliqué ils/elles avaient expliqué Pronounce these verb forms
Future	Future-perfect
j' expliquerai tu expliqueras il/elle expliquera nous expliquerons vous expliquerez ils/elles expliqueront Pronounce these verb forms	j' aurai expliqué tu auras expliqué il/elle aura expliqué nous aurons expliqué vous aurez expliqué ils/elles auront expliqué Pronounce these verb forms
Conditional	Conditional perfect
j' expliquerais tu expliquerais il/elle expliquerait nous expliquerions vous expliqueriez ils/elles expliqueraient Pronounce these verb forms	j' aurais expliqué tu aurais expliqué il/elle aurait expliqué nous aurions expliqué vous auriez expliqué ils/elles auraient expliqué Pronounce these verb forms
Present subjunctive	Perfect subjunctive
j' explique tu expliques il/elle explique nous expliquions vous expliquiez ils/elles expliquent Pronounce these verb forms	j' aie expliqué tu aies expliqué il/elle ait expliqué nous ayons expliqué vous ayez expliqué ils/elles aient expliqué Pronounce these verb forms
Past historic	Past anterior
j' expliquai tu expliquas il/elle expliqua nous expliquâmes vous expliquâtes ils/elles expliquèrent Pronounce these verb forms	j' eus expliqué tu eus expliqué il/elle eut expliqué nous eûmes expliqué vous eûtes expliqué ils/elles eurent expliqué Pronounce these verb forms

This verb follows the so-called regular -er verb pattern, the pattern followed by vast majority of verbs of the language, and by practically all new verbs entering the language.

The regular -er pattern has the following defining features:

• No characteristic consonant (contrast, for example, with verbs following the finir or dormir patterns, which have a characteristic -ss- and -m- in all forms but the present tense singular);
• No vowel change in the stem, other than where necessary to respect general patterns of French phonology (e.g. see préférer)²;
• Past participle in -é¹.

1. Outside the regular -er paradigm, only aller, être and naître have past participles ending in -é.
2. Many other verb patterns, except verbs of the finir type plus a few other patterns, have an irregular vowel change, e.g. boire > je bois vs nous buvons. See the grammar section on irregular verb patterns in French for a list of the different vowel changes.